Picture Book 25 / Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

Title	Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
Author	Deborah Hopkinson
Illustrator	James Ransome
Publication Year	1993
Awards	n/a
Publisher	Scholastic Inc.
ISBN	0-590-42485-8
Readability Score (GLE = Grade Level Equivalent)	Lexile	680L
	DRA	40
	GLE	4.5
	Guided Reading	S
Genre /      Sub-Genre	Picture Book/Historical Fiction/Multicultural
Theme	Overcoming obstacles.
Primary Character	Clara
Secondary Characters	Jack, Aunt Rachel, Momma
Classroom Use	I would use this book to teach about slavery, African Americans and overcoming obstacles.
Book Summary	Clara was working in the fields and was tired. Her Aunt Rachel started to teach her to sew. She was taken out of the field work to sew. She overheard some people talking about the underground railroad and a map. She was wondering how to make a map showing the way to freedom. She decided that sewing a map would work. Her and Jack drew pictures in the dirt to put on the quilt. Clara and Jack decided to run off. They stopped by Clara’s mom’s house to get her and her sister she didn’t know she had. They made it to the Ohio River. The quilt stayed at Home Plantation and several people went to look at it. This is how they got free. Some never made it.